TENT CLUBS 217 



to put them in stuff big enough to hide an elephant, 

 and then sigh over the inabihty of your shikaries 

 to judge, and acquiesce blandly in the will of 

 Providence. 



Never tolerate blank days. One occasionally 

 is unavoidable. A succession of them means bad 

 work on the part of yourself and your shikaries. 

 Your members are spending money, they expect 

 sport. You must not take them out on recon- 

 naissances in force, trekking wearily over miles of 

 unreconnoitred country which may, or may not, 

 hold pig. Your last reports before hunting should 

 not be more than two or three days old. 



Make your shikaries tell you what they have 

 done, and what they propose to do. Make up your 

 mind, give your orders, and have them carried out 

 to the letter. Natives like to change their mind, 

 and a shikari, mounted, and with the prospect of 

 a possible rupee or two for first spear before his 

 eyes, will think nothing of taking a tired line a 

 couple of miles out of its way on the chance of an 

 outlying pig. Never allow this. 



Mount your men on camels or ponies, the former 

 for choice. Men cannot run a line properly on foot, 

 nor can they see as well as when mounted. Unless 

 mounted it takes them a month to get from one 

 place to another, and to bring in reports. 



However good your shikaries, remember yours 

 must be the brain power behind them. Shikaries 

 who can plan out a whole campaign are very rare ; 

 they work by rule of thumb. It is for you to con- 

 sider the influence of weather, crops, and want of 

 water in each place. A patch of cover may be full 

 of pig one week and not hold a single one the next ; 

 past records and your own pig-craft must tell you. 



